With all due respect, Your Majesty, this is getting a little ridiculous.  I know the economy is rough everywhere, but even Princess Anne usually mixes things up more than this!

Oh, come on.  Like you don't sip champagne and receive floral bouquets while you're wearing a hard hat.  Pfft.

It's a veritable sister act today in Dresden, with both Queen Margrethe and her younger sister, Princess Benedikte, visiting Eckberg Castle.  Isn't it great to see royal siblings out and about having fun on official duties together?

Hattery wise, there's nothing really bad about either of these.  In fact, this is the best hat I think we've seen on Margrethe so far -- it's a nice shape, and it doesn't appear to be swamping her head the way some others do.

But I must say, the hat that Benedikte chose is pretty much the same hat my mother wore to the beach throughout my entire childhood...

Repeat.  Hm.  I'm beginning to think that perhaps Margrethe's two stylish daughters-in-law should plan a girls' day out and take their mother-in-law out hat shopping...

Also: Thanks to reader Kirsten for sending me the pictures of the Danish visit to Germany!

I'm not sure exactly what Kate is trying to conjure up in this particular photo (maybe an engagement ring? or a potion to make tabloid writers nicer to her?), but it's great to see her back in hattery mode again!  And I must say, she's looking particularly royal in this photo.

The hat itself is pretty nice, honestly.  It's a little forehead-monstery for me, but not too much.  I like the white/black/blue contrast.  If only it didn't have the weird pattern of crystal-ly flowers on the top, I might be really enthusiastic about it.

Now, if only we could get Miss Middleton three things: that big sparkler, a schedule of princess lessons from Princess Alexandra, and a sandwich...

Another day at the Gatcombe Park Horse Trials, another appearance from ye olde bucket hat...

Oh, Princess Anne.  From all the improvements at Royal Ascot this year, to this:

Last year when she wore a hat like this one to the Olympics in China, I wrote that my grandmother wears a similar chapeau while out fishing -- and that's still true.  But my granny never does this to the back brim, to my knowledge:

Is this to keep the back of her neck properly ventilated?  I am perplexed.  Obviously Zara, in all her top-hatted, horse-riding glory, can't even bear to look at it!

Reader Kirsten sent this second photo to me (thanks, Kirsten!) along with a suggestion that Anne needs to seek help on What Not to Wear, and I am all for it.  I'll bet Stacy and Clinton or Trinny and Susannah (forget those new presenters) would be itching to get their hands on this member of the royal family!  (Especially since Susannah probably saw Anne a lot at family dinners back when she was dating Viscount Linley...)

The women of the royal family are pulling double duty at the memorial service for the oldest man in Britain and one of the last veterans of the Great War, Harry Patch.  It's been barely a week since another similar service for Henry Allingham, and Birgitte is repeating the hat she wore for that memorial.  Really, fair enough.  I still don't love it, but who has time to buy two memorial hats in a seven-day period?  I know I don't, and I'd wager someone with the style of HRH is far busier than I am!

Camilla is also wearing a repeated hat, but as she is the woman who I believe has single-handedly attended more memorial services over the past year in Britain than anyone save various priests, I'll give her a pass as well.  And bonus points because this is one of the ones I like best.  It's really grown on me.